Kriens: Study contract for the Bell site decided

Andritz Hydro and Marty Korrosionsschutz currently use the Bell site in Kriens, but the companies will move their production to another location in the next few years. The last large contiguous industrial site in the center of the city is then to be redeveloped. The landowner Logis Suisse wants to create space for living and working together with the project developer Steiner and the city of Kriens.

According to project manager Marianne Dutli Derron of Logis Suisse, in addition to various commercial offerings, there will also be a variety of housing types and living arrangements - cooperative and rental apartments, as well as condominiums, are planned. To this end, Logis Suisse wants to cooperate with various regional housing cooperatives.

Within the framework of a two-stage study, 15 planning teams were invited to make proposals on how the area can be opened up for a broader use and become a well-integrated, interconnected and distinctive piece of the city. The "Bell-époque" concept of the team GWJ Architektur AG, Güller Güller architecture urbanism and ORT AG for landscape architecture - with mrs partner AG for traffic planning and Martin Beutler for planning the social spaces - was unanimously recommended for further work. According to the jury's final report, the planning team from Bern and Zurich "succeeded in creating a convincing combination of urban embedding in the surroundings and in the history of the site, the creation of a strong identity, and a great diversity of buildings and open spaces." The guiding concept, which will serve as the basis for the development plan, is to be fleshed out by the fall of 2021. (ah)